This program celebrates the 150th anniversary of the tin can. To meet military demands for preserved foods during war, Nicholas Appert devised a method of preserving foods by heating them in sealed containers to destroy the bacteria. In 1812 Peter Durand invented the tin can and the first canning factory opened in Great Britain. A dramatization describes a typical 1815 dinner consisting predominantly of pickled, salted, smoked, and dried foods. Thomas Kensett patented Durand's tin cans in the U.S. in 1825. During the Civil War demands for canned foods increased, boosting mass production of the tin cans. Other products began appearing in cans, such as I. W. Lyons' tooth powder for home use; Gerhard Mennen's talcum powder for babies, in a lithographed can with a sprinkle top; and Gilbert Van Camp's pork and beans combination. A selection of 1880s mass produced, decorative tins display a variety of products, many non-perishable. Soldering the tops of cans by hand gave way to open-topped cans that could be seamed shut by machine. The only exception to this were condensed or evaporated milk cans, patented in 1856 by Gail Borden. A film shows a canning factory, producing 30,000 cans per hour, from cutting the tin plate to testing and shipping the final products. The aerosol can, first used in World War II for insecticide, is also discussed.

Host Lynn Poole sets the scene of the late 18th/early 19th century Rocky Mountain fur trappers who crossed the Missouri River (the "Yellow Waters") to trap beavers and sell pelts, blazing the Oregon Trail as they advanced. In 1837 Baltimore, Maryland painter Alfred Jacob Miller joined the American Fur Company caravan, with Scottish Captain William Drummond Stewart, to make a visual record of their trip to the fur traders' rendezvous in the Green River Valley of Wyoming. A map shows their route from Independence, Missouri to Oregon. Miller's sketches, later transformed into over 200 watercolors (now preserved in the Walters Art Gallery and displayed on this program) and oil paintings, chronicle such events as buffalo hunts, prairie fires, and river crossings, as well as such landmarks as Chimney Rock, Scott's Bluff, Fort Laramie, Independence Rock, and The Devil's Gate. Miller's paintings also show encounters with Sioux tribes and Black Feet Indians, various tribal members, and Indian women. The final painting shown portrays trapper Joe Walker with his new Indian wife heading into the wilderness after the rendezvous. Lynn Poole concludes the program by describing how missionaries such as Marcus and Narcissa Whitman took the Oregon Trail to Walla Walla, Washington, followed later by the many settlers moving West.

This is the final program of The Johns Hopkins University television series. In it, Dr. George Carter, geography professor at Hopkins, notes that Louis S.B. Leakey found evidence of the earliest primitive man and his tools in Kenya. He then displays revised maps of the world that reveal different land masses during glacial periods, thus allowing the Kenyan man to explore new lands and form colonies over a period of 100,000 years until the glaciers receded and the oceans returned. Dr. Carter discusses the transformation of Kenyan man from an isolated pygmy into modern man with regional or racial characteristics, such as the cave dwelling "Sinanthropus pekinesis" in northern China and the Swanscombe man in England. Glacial periods also created a land bridge near the Bering Strait, allowing animals and man to cross from Asia into North America. Tools found in the Americas plus the physical characteristics of early American Indians offer proof of waves of Asian migrations. Survivors of early man include the australoids, europids, and mongoloids. At the conclusion of the program, host Lynn Poole thanks members of the studio, university, and network for their hard work and dedication. John McClay, general manager of station WJZ-TV, expresses his gratitude to Johns Hopkins University and Lynn Poole especially. University president Milton S. Eisenhower thanks everyone responsible for the shows and announces reluctantly that "File 7" will not be on the air next season. He says that the "business of producing, creating, and presenting a weekly program has become increasingly burdensome," and because of the University's other commitments, it is unable to produce shows of the high quality expected of Johns Hopkins. Furthermore, Dr. Eisenhower hopes that this "will be only an interruption and not a permanent termination" of Hopkins educational television. Thirteen "File 7" reruns will be shown during the summer of 1960, but it will not be continued thereafter.

Two actors, James Potter and Robert Keller, open this program with a dramatization of an emergency situation in which a child is severely burned far from a treatment center. Dr. Sanford Rosenthal, pharmacologist at the National Institute of Arthritis and Metabolic Diseases in Bethesda, MD, explains the emergency treatment he developed that is recommended in the dramatic scene: one teaspoon of salt plus half teaspoon of baking soda mixed in one quart of cool water and delivered orally to the burn victim at the rate of one quart per twenty pounds of body weight during the first 24 hours and half the amount during the next 24 hours. He explains that since 1942 National Institute of Health (NIH) has studied shock that follows severe injuries such as burns, crushing injuries, and hemorrhage. A film shows the procedure that replicated these types of injuries on female albino mice. Tissue fluid and blood rushing to the wound area result in dehydration, sodium deficiency, and reduced blood volume overall and can be corrected by administering Rosenthal's fluid treatment orally or intravenously. Dr. Kehl Markley, also of NIH, explains a chart comparing the amount of saline treatment to survival rate. He then narrates a film about 1951 experiments with human burn victims in Lima, Peru, where half received saline solution by mouth and half received plasma and glucose by vein. The two groups showed no significant differences after 24 hours, although many burn victims who survive the shock later die from infection. Dr. Markley discusses a chart of burn victims showing the number of deaths/cases of those who received saline, plasma, or both. In conclusion, the Office of Civil Defense Mobilization has recommended emergency use of saline solution for burn shock in case of a major bomb disaster.

Lynn Poole identifies the equipment in Johns Hopkins University's ham radio "shack," (station W3GQF, for students with amateur radio licenses) and shows QSL cards from around the world. A film clip shows the International Geophysical Year Expedition's ham radio shack (KC4USA) in Antarctica. Dr. Edward Krieg, ham radio operator (W3CAY) and surgeon at Bon Secour Hospital in Baltimore, shows a film clip of a ham radio operators' "field day" and explains some of the ham radio lingo, such as "CQ" for hello and "7-3" for goodbye. He notes that some hams specialize in Morse code, a requirement for getting a radio license from the FCC. A film documents the DX (distance expedition) of six ham operators who sail to Navassa Island to set up a ham station (KC4AF) there. During the four days on the island, they made over 7,000 contacts in 75 different countries before going QRT (off the air). Another film shows the amateur ham operators' free emergency network to assist disaster organizations. Sam Harris' Rhododendron Swamp VHF Society of amateur ham experimenters is featured in another film clip. Perry Klein, a teenager credited with bouncing a signal off an artificial satellite, explains how he did it and plays a recording of the signal. He calls this form of communication "high frequency satellite scatter" or "satellite bounce." Klein recommends to viewers the book "How to Become a Radio Amateur." A film clip shows Joe Pratt, a homebound polio victim in Baltimore, MD, using his ham radio to make friends. Dr. Krieg concludes the program by promoting the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) and their publication "QST."

Actor Joseph Potter, impersonating H.L. Mencken, opens this show on the "Sage of Baltimore," and quotes him throughout the program. Lynn Poole gives a pictorial account of Mencken's early life. Dr. Carl Bode, University of Maryland English professor, discusses Mencken as a critic of literature, society, and politics. He points out Mencken's contentiousness in his writing, especially in political criticism, such as his comments in 1912 on Baltimore mayor James H. Preston. Although Mencken stood up for New Realists such as Dreiser and Hemingway, he disliked the pretentiousness of many authors of his day and spoke out against bestsellers with no literary merit. With Mr. Potter's assistance, Dr. Bode describes events in Mencken's career as editor and columnist with "The Baltimore Sun" newspaper, co-editor with George Jean Nathan of "The Smart Set," editor and writer for "The American Mercury," and author of numerous books, such as "George Bernard Shaw" and "The American Language." Mr. Potter dramatizes a portion of Mencken's obituary for William Jennings Bryan, written after Bryan's death following the 1925 Scopes Trial. In 1926 the Watch and Ward Society of Boston forced off the newsstands Mencken's controversial "Hatrack" story in "The American Mercury," but Mencken prevailed. However, his unchanging views became trivial when he failed to recognize and understand the grave implications of the Great Depression or Hitler. Johns Hopkins professor emeritus Kemp Malone discusses Mencken's book "The American Language," which posits that American English was so different from British English that it should have a separate name. As an amateur philologist, Mencken also launched "American Speech," a learned journal, although he considered himself "a scout for scholars," not a scholar himself. In conclusion, Lynn Poole recommends Mencken's "A Carnival of Buncombe" for additional reading.

Actors Joseph Potter, Bob McGill, Walter Koehler, Harry Welker, and Harry Weiss dramatize the trial of Socrates Aeropagus in 399 BC. The seventy year old Athenian philosopher is under attack as a sophist and faces the Tribunal. Lynn Poole, as "chorus," intersperses descriptions of Athens, its religion, courts, and history with scenes played by costumed actors. Libelled by Aristophanes' comedy "The Clouds" and accused by the poet Meletus of impiety and corrupting the youth of Athens, Socrates eloquently counters the accusations only to be voted guilty by the jury. He abides by the death penalty and prophesies that punishment will fall upon both his supporters and accusers for not examining their lives and living righteously.

Johns Hopkins University faculty member Elliott Coleman reads from his poetic works: "Spring on the Estuary," "Joyce's Grave," "Letter to Pierre Emmanuel," "Sonnets on the Roman Light," and "Aubade for Josephine Jacobsen." Poetry consultant to the Library of Congress Josephine Jacobsen reads the following of her poems: "Topic of Advent," "The Animals," "The Danish Mobile," "Painter in Xyochtl," and "The Stranger and Corrigan."

Members of the Baltimore Woodwinds, first chair or principle players with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, open the program playing the finale of "Quintet in E-flat major" by Anton Reicha. Lynn Poole describes the history of woodwind music and introduces the players: Britton Johnson on flute, Wayne Rapier on oboe, Robert Pierce on French horn, Stanley Petrulis on bassoon, and Ignatius Gennusa on clarinet. The quintet plays two movements of Vivaldi's "Sonata in G minor" and continues with "Pastoral," by modern composer Vincent Persichetti. Last in their repertoire are three short pieces for woodwind composed by Jacques Ibert.

The program opens with drawings of early, primitive underwater vessels and segues into a film of swimmers with aqualungs. A photo of Charles William Beebe is shown as oceanographer Dayton Carritt discusses Beebe's 1930s bathysphere. In 1953, Auguste Piccard built the first bathyscaphe, the "Trieste," a 50-foot untethered underwater vehicle, after many years of successfully using balloons to study the atmosphere. The "Trieste" operates on the Archimedes principle of water displacement, demonstrated by Dr. Carritt by dropping a tennis ball and a golf ball into water. Dr. Carritt explains in detail a schematic diagram of the "Trieste," showing how the ballast mechanism works with a small experiment and film clip of the procedure. In 1958, the Office of Naval Research bought the "Trieste" from Piccard for $185,000 to study the physical, chemical, biological, and geological characteristics of the ocean. Dr. Carritt interviews Dr. Robert Dietz of the U.S. Navy, who recounts his dive in "Trieste" with Piccard, describing what he saw and how he felt. Dr. Dietz also explains the "false bottom" or "deep scattering layer" and shows a graph of it. He discusses the drawbacks and the uses of bathyscaphes, such as deep sea salvage, mineral mining, and cable monitoring.